>> pelley: tonight, strategies in the battle for the use. both campaigns zero in on the key battleground state of ohio where new polls show it's still very much up for grabs. reports from jan crawford, nancy cordes and john dickerson. convicted rapist jerry sandusky makes a rambling defense of his innocence, but the judge has the final word. armen keteyian on the sentencing of the former penn state coach. elizabeth palmer takes us inside the compound in libya where the u.s. ambassador died, in his own bedroom. and byron pitts with angels in overalls. >> reporter: how do you see these women? are they girlfriends? neighbors? >> they're my heroes! (laughs) captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening.

as of today we are down to the final four weeks of the presidential campaign. the focus is narrowing, not just to the nine battleground states but to one in particular-- ohio, which could tip the balance on election night. first the big picture. nationally, the latest gallup poll shows mitt romney leading president obama 49% to 47%. that spread is within the margin of error, so it's essentially a tie. in ohio, new polling today shows this: pollster a.r.g. has romney up by one point, 48% to 47%. but a cnn poll has the president up by four, 51% to 47%. either way, it's an improvement for romney who was falling well behind in ohio until last week's debate. both candidates were in ohio today where this is the last day to register to vote. our campaign 2012 correspondents

are there, too, and we'll go to nancy cordes with the obama campaign. >> reporter: scott, ohio is the grand prize for the obama campaign. they have 120 field offices here, the president has held 17 rallies in this state, more than any other state, but in the debate last week he failed to mention some major issues that are very important to ohio voters, like that auto bailout or shipping jobs overseas. that's a mistake he did not make today here in columbus. >> when you think about ohio, when governor romney said that we should let the auto industry go bankrupt we said no, we're not going to take your advice. ( boos ) don't boo, vote. and we reinvented a dying auto stay supports one in eight ohio jobs and has come roaring back to the top of the world. ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: on deficit reduction, the president accused

romney of salesmanship, not leadership, part of the new approach by this president to attack not just romney's policies, scott, but his character. >> pelley: nancy, thank you. the obama campaign has been running ads in ohio for months painting romney has a hard- hearted businessman indifferent to layoffs. romney now has 28 days to turn that around. jan crawford is with the campaign tonight. jan? >> reporter: well, scott, romney arrived here in ohio with a boost in momentum and a slightly different approach. he's showing a softer side. he's also being more aggressive in defending himself. at his family's urging, romney-- a private man-- has been telling personal stories of helping others. today in iowa he talked of meeting a former navy seal who was killed, along with three other americans, in the attacks in libya. >> and it -- it touched me, obviously, as i recognized this young man that i thought was so

impressive had lost his life in the service of his fellow men and women. >> reporter: now, romney is also being more forceful in defending himself from those attacks as he focuses on these states that could decide the election. scott, he will be here in ohio four days this week. >> pelley: thank you, jan. also in ohio is our political director john dickerson. john, how much should we make of romney's new momentum? >> reporter: well, here in the state they're seeing it all over the place. the lines for tickets for an event in the northeastern part of the state were so long that officials here are saying that it might be the biggest of romney's entire campaign. but campaign officials are cautious. they know it's a long slog ahead. if you count the electoral votes that president obama has locked up, he has -- or almost locked up, he has about a 30-vote lead over governor romney so campaign officials are very cautious. they also say that it can be seductive when polls are going very well in lots of different

states, campaigns can spend time in a state that they really in the end based on the fundamentals are not likely to win. but i talked to another campaign official who said given the way things were going a week ago, having too many opportunities is a good problem to have. >> pelley: strategy and tactics changing. john, thanks very much. tomorrow a state department official is expected to tell congress that he warned his bosses that security in libya was getting worse before they that attack on the u.s. consulate. correspondent sharyl attkisson tells us his warnings include a log of 230 security incidents that occurred over a year. eric nordstrom is expected to testify that his request for more troops and officers was turned down. as you know, u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three other americans were killed in the attack in benghazi last month. today elizabeth palmer made it inside the room where the ambassador died. >> reporter: the u.s. compound in benghazi now sits empty and

abandoned. if the men who attacked these buildings on september 11 used heavy weapons, there are few signs of it. but over every window there's evidence of the billowing smoke that killed two americans, including ambassador chris stevens. inside post-it notes cling to the blackened wall, left behind by f.b.i. investigators who finally made it to this crime scene for a single day last week. cell phone video from the night of the attack shows the fire burning as looters swarmed over the compound. now a blanket of soot covers the ruins. but investigators will have been looking closely for evidence to show who set the blaze. this heavy steel security gate seals the sleeping quarters behind me off from the rest of the consulate building. it's double-locked from the inside, probably by the people who took refuge in here that night. among them, ambassador chris stevens. the space includes the ambassador's own bedroom.

it was set up to be a secure retreat from attack. note the barred windows all around. but that night it turned into a trap. government sources say stevens' personal security guard managed to climb out a window, perhaps this one where the bars were removed. the question is why stevens, left behind in the dark and the smoke, didn't follow. his body was pulled from that same window by a crowd hours later. the september 11 attack wasn't the first on the u.s. consulate. it had been bombed in june. on september 8, jamal busha'la, a commander of one of benghazi's most powerful militias, met with three americans-- one from the u.s. embassy-- to warn them about deteriorating security. >> pelley: liz palmer joins us from benghazi. liz, that rebel commander had

pretty specific warnings. is there any indication the state department took them to heart? >> reporter: he said that his impression was -- his advice was sort of shrugged off. but that meeting, i should add, was called with the commanders to discuss the possibility of american private investment returning to benghazi, that they were even discussing it under the circumstances is quite remarkable. >> pelley: liz, thank you. now, this evening our state department correspondent margaret brennan has learned new details from state department sources on what happened the night of the attack, margaret joins us now from washington. margaret? >> scott, we know now that the ambassador was taken to a safe room, a bunker-like area inside the residence by one security agent who remained with him. this is after the attack began around 9:40 p.m. the four other agents ran to get heavy arms to protect the compound. while they were gone, attackers

entered the building, sprayed diesel fuel, and lit it on fire. the smoke became so thick that the agent decided they should leave that safe room. he tried to crawl out the window. he got out first-- standard procedure-- but the ambassador did not. the agent then goes back into that room several times but suffered from smoke inhalation and he never found the ambassador. he radioed for backup, the other agents didn't even know that the residence was on fire, scott. >> pelley: this tells us more than we knew about how the ambassador was separated from his security detail. margaret, thank you very much. the international monetary fund warned today that europe's financial crisis could be a drag on the that wasn't the news that wall street wanted to hear. the dow dropped 110 points to close below 13,500.

mark phillips is there. >> reporter: her official wlcome was dignified with all the usual state visit trappings. her unofficial welcome was angry and laced with uncomfortable imagery of what many greeks think of the german leader. no insult was spared. angela merkel is being called the most despised person in greece. she's insisted to prime minister antonis samaras that european bailout money that is keeping greece afloat only be paid if the government continues to make severe cuts in jobs, services, and pensions. merkel told the greeks she understood their suffering. they told her in their tens of

thousands that they've suffered saough. most of the demonstrators were peaceful, some were not. and athens once more became a battleground of flying bricks and tear gas. the confrontation between the hard core demonstrators and the police was pretty minor by local standards. the confrontation between greece and the harsh economic realitys will go on a lot longer. panagiotis lanaros is not a man srone to demonstrate. a 73-year-old former construction worker, he lives on a pension that's already been cut by 20% to about $13,000 a year. it's not enough for him and his wife to live on let alone to help his now unemployed daughter joanna and her family. do you think things will get worse from now on? >> i think yes. >> reporter: you think it will still get worse? >> yes. l> reporter: do you worry about your future and the future of your children? >> very much. >> pelley: greece has more immediate worries and mark

phillips is joining us now from athens. mark, the greeks are hoping for another $17 billion bailout in the next few weeks from europe. i wonder, what do they have to do to get that? >> well, that's part of the reason that angela merkel was here today. they have to satisfy merkel and the e.u. and the european central bank and the international monetary fund that 'rey're going to continue to make the severe cuts in spending that those bodies think are necessary. as for the families like the one that we saw-- and there are millions of them-- their concern is that this is perpetual increasing misery, which is why they're so angry. >> pelley: a story that has years to go. mark, thanks very much. today jerry sandusky faced his victims as he was sentenced. and a record sky dive is put on hold when the "cbs evening news" continues. ♪

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there's dulcolax stool softener. dulcolax stool softener doesn't make you go, it just makes it easier to go. dulcolax stool softener. make yourself comfortable. i was skeptical at first. but after awhile even my girlfriend noticed a difference. [ male announcer ] rogaine is proven to help stop hair loss. and for 85% of guys, it regrew hair. save up to 42% now at rogaine.com. >> pelley: jerry sandusky, the former assistant football coach at penn state, was sentenced today to 30 to 60 years in prison for sexually assaulting ten boys. but before he heard his fate, he had to face his victims and ismen keteyian was in the courtroom. >> reporter: pale and noticeably eablyer, sandusky arrived at center county courthouse for a sentencing hearing that osstedless than 70 minutes. ppad prosecutor joseph mcgettigan stepped to the podium

and called sandusky's sexual acts cruel beyond imagination. he labeled the charity for troubled boys founded by the brmer penn state coach a victim's factories. >> he will spend his life in prison, at he should. >> reporter: you had outrage in tour voice communicating to the judge that you were speaking on behalf of the victims. >> yes, and for myself because the defendant, by his statements seemed to revictimize these young men who he tormented and victimized for so long. >> reporter: one of the victims addressed the court through ghars and said "i've been left with deep painful wounds that you caused and have been buried ul whe garden of my heart." cother spoke of experiencing flashbacks of abuse. "he took away my childhood the day he assaulted me." sandusky sat like a statue not ten feet away. s minutes in he rose and 40mbled on for 16 minutes. he never apologized for the young boys whose trust he had betrayed. his only denial a virtual carbon copy of an audiotape released to the public last night.

>> reporter: then senior judge john cleland pronounced a sentence. he said before imposing the equivalent of a life sentence on the 68-year-old sandusky. lead defense attorney joe amendola said they will file an appeal within the next ten days but given this sentence, scott, nandusky won't even be eligible for parole until he's 98 years old. >> pelley: armen, thank you. isere is a new warning tonight for people who may have been infected in a deadly outbreak of meningitis. we'll have that next.

>> pelley: that deadly meningitis outbreak tied to tainted steroid injections just keep spreading. today new jersey became the tenth state to report the infection. 119 people have become ill and 11 have died. tennessee has seen the worst of it and manuel bojorquez is at a hospital in nashville. >> reporter: ron barbe drove himself to st. thomas hospital in nashville this afternoon. he received two injections of a steroid for lower back pain last month. >> symptoms started this morning. slight stiff neck and a headache so i went to see my family doctor and he sent me up here.

>> reporter: a spinal tap will determine whether barbe has men meningitis i can't imagine what that feeling might be like for you. >> i can't explain it, really. it's been a week of stress and this drive up here was pretty ytressful. >> reporter: and for thousands eporthers who received steroid injections, the stress won't go way soon. this afternoon, health officials warned patients will need to wtch for symptoms for three months-- not the previously recommended 30 days. one patient developed meningitis symptoms 42 days after a tainted steroid shot. tennessee health officials say fungus in the tainted vials, a fungus most doctors never hecounter in all their years thacticing medicine. .hat makes for many nervous people. barbara jenkins is one of them. >> we did not get any call from anyone except just a routine

follow-up call. >> reporter: she says the first phone call about the three shots her husband received gave new klue he might be at risk for meningitis and now they both are anxious. >> i know my husband is sick of me saying -- "do you feel okay" because that's what i ask him y"l the time is "do you feel okay?" >> reporter: st. thomas hospital officials acknowledge they did not use the word "meningitis" in a first round of calls to patients. scott, the hospital said as the metuation became more clear it was then able to issue a specific warning. >> pelley: manuel, thank you l, y much. the waiting may be the hardest part for daredevil felix baumgartner. his plan to sky dive from a capsule a record 23 miles above the earth was postponed again today. it appears the ultra thin balloon that was to take him into the stratosphere may have been damaged by strong gusts of wind. baumgartner will have to wait until at least thursday to try again. they help neighbors in need put

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tilers, as well. here's byron pitts. >> reporter: down this red dirt road west of charlotte, we, followed the sound of hammers and found a story about focusing on service setting aside differences. >> how many republicans do we have here? how many democrats do we have here? >> reporter: this is madge jones' house. the roof leaked. >> this one is a pretty bad one up here. >> reporter: but since her husband died 2.5 years ago, she had no money to fix it. she made one phone call. in a matter of days, a group of volunteers showed up, armed with tool belts and enthusiasm. raise your hand if you had roofing experience before you started doing this work. one. [ laughter ] >> reporter: they are known as the women roofers. they've repaired roofs for free for the past 10 years.

they have one rule: what's said on the roof stays on the roof. they've only rejected one volunteer. >> the only one that we never invited back spent the whole afternoon -- "hand me a hammer, sugar," or "hand me a hammer, sweetie." so we never invited him back. >> reporter: nell bovender of the rutherford housing partnership organized the group and manages donations for supplies. >> we only help people that make less than half of the median income. that's a family of two of makes less than $20,000 a year. that's not a lot of money. >> reporter: you have lots of folks like that here? >> yeah, we have 135 people on the waiting list. >> reporter: rutherford county's unemployment rate is 14.2%, the fourth highest in north carolina. when the factories closed, jobs moved overseas. most of these volunteers are professional women -- a nurse, small business owners, retirees. so if you all could talk to the two men who want to be our next

president, what would you want to ask them? >> take a lesson from what we do, because i work alongside with this group of women, some of the most conservative republicans, some of the most liberal democrats, and we are working together for the common good. why can't the two sides find the common ground to make a difference? >> wow. >> reporter: this group made a difference for madge jones. how do you see these women? are they neighbors? are they sisters? >> they're my heroes. >> reporter: the philosophy here is pretty simple. pick a problem and fix it. byron pitts, rutherfordton, north carolina. cbs news. >> and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at "cbs evening news" all around the world, good night. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com it's known as the "safe" ac. good evening, i'm allen

martin. >> i'm dana king. it is known as the safe act. >> yeah, and if voters approve it next month it would spare each and every one of california's condemned inmates. today, the catholic church joined the state's death penalty debate. cbs 5 political reporter grace lee is in front of san quentin and tells us while it's a moral issue it also comes down to cost. >> reporter: that's right. this is a very big decision for california voters. what's at stake as you said we're at san quentin 700 lives at stake over this proposition and if you vote yes on proposition 34 you are voting to apolish the death penalty. that would essentially follow the footsteps of 17 other states including new york and illinois abolishing the death penalty. it has housed some of the most famous criminal faces, charles manston had two stints at san quentin prison, richard allen davis currently on death row for the murder. polly klaas and scott peterson awaits his execution for the death of